A Dual Expandable Nitinol Stent: The Long-term Results in Patients with Malignant Gastroduodenal Strictures

We wanted to evaluate the long-term results of a dual expandable nitinol stent for the palliative treatment of malignant gastroduodenal strictures. The dual stent consists of two stents; an outer partially nylon covered stent and an inner bare nitinol stent. The outer stent was placed into the stricture and this was followed by coaxial placement of the inner bare stent. Using fluoroscopic guidance, dual expandable stents were placed in 86 patients with inoperable malignant gastroduodenal strictures. The technical and clinical success, the complication, survival and the stent patency were evaluated during the follow-up period. Stent placement was technically successful in 83 of the 86 patients. After stent placement, 74 of the 85 patients showed improvement of their symptoms. During the mean follow-up period of 133 days, 24 patients (28%) developed recurrent symptoms due to incomplete expansion (n=1), stent migration (n=4), food impaction (n=2), granulation tissue formation (n=2), tumor overgrowth (n=6), tumor ingrowth (n=1) and stent collapse (n=8). Eleven of them were successfully treated by means of placing a second stent. The median period of stent patency was 212 days (mean, 299 days). The 30-day, 60-day, 90-day and 180-day patency rates were 93%, 84%, 81% and 53%, respectively. The dual expandable nitinol stent seems to be effective for the palliation of malignant gastroduodenal strictures